Highlights from the SØR Rusche Collection in the Old Masters Online Sale

Dirck Van der Lisse, Portrait of a gentleman; and Portrait of a lady
Estimate £6,000–8,000

This small, high quality pair of portraits on oval pieces of copper depict an anonymous couple, who were most likely citizens of The Hague, where Van der Lisse worked, and even became Burgomaster (mayor) of the city in 1660.

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Cornelis Van Poelenburch, Recto: Saint Peter standing; Verso: a rocky cave landscape
Estimate £10,000–15,000

Cornelis van Poelenburgh was one of the first Dutch artists to travel to Rome in the early 17th century and to incorporate the influence of Italian painting into his work. While there he met the German painter, Adam Elsheimer, whose series of small paintings of saints clearly influenced this picture. Executed with the refinement of a miniature, the copper plate is painted on both sides, the reverse depicting a rocky landscape.

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Adriaen Van Eemont, View of the Lucano Bridge crossing the Anio River, with the Tomb of the Plautii
Estimate £5,000–7,000

This view is little changed today – the elegant form of the Ponte Lucano and the remains of the circular Tomb of the Plautii have withstood traffic between Rome and Tivoli since the 1st century BC. Eemont travelled to Italy and was inspired by the work of other Dutch artists working in Southern Europe, such as Jan Both and Jan Asselijn, for whose work this painting was previously mistaken.

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Johannes Spilberg, Portrait of a lady in imaginary costume
Estimate £8,000–12,000

Spilberg was a pupil of Govaert Flink, who was himself a student of Rembrandt. This painting clearly betrays Spilberg’s own debt to Rembrandt, whose development of the genre of character studies, particularly wearing exotic dress, influenced generations of artists to come.

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Workshop of Joos de Momper, Landscape with gypsies in a cave
Estimate £10,000–15,000

The landscape painter Joos de Momper frequently collaborated with Jan Brueghel the Elder – the son of the great Pieter Bruegel the Elder, whose landscapes certainly inspired the mountainous, rocky vistas in which De Momper specialised. Another version of this painting, attributed to De Momper and Jan Brueghel the Elder, last appeared on the market in 1930.

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Jan Symonsz. Pynas, Mary Magdalene kneeling at the foot of the cross
Estimate £3,000–4,000

Pynas is an artist classified as a ‘Pre-Rembrandtist’ – the term given to a group of history painters active in Amsterdam in the early 17th century, considered to be the forerunners of Rembrandt himself. Pynas was the first of these artists to treat this religious subject in such a stark, pared-back manner, paving the way for contemporaries such as Pieter Lastman (Rembrandt’s teacher) to do the same.

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Attributed to Jacques de Claeuw, Vanitas still life
Estimate £7,000–10,000

Jacques Adolphsz. de Claeuw treated vanitas subjects frequently during a peripatetic career, working in Dordrecht, Leiden, The Hague and Haarlem. Scattered instruments and papers are cast as artefacts of human achievement, while the broken glass roemer and recently extinguished candle act as emblems of impermanence and foils to hubris.

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Attributed to Otto Mareus van Schrieck, Kitchen still life with fish, a lobster, and a cauliflower all on a table top
Estimate £4,000–6,000

This is one of the earliest works to be signed and dated by Otto Marseus van Schrieck, an artist best known for his dark, atmospheric depictions of forest floor fauna and flora, as well as snakes, lizards and butterflies – captured specimens of which he would even apply to the paint surface. This is his only known fish still life, painted in Italy between 1652 and 1657.

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Netherlandish Follower of Adam Elsheimer, The Crucifixion
Estimate £6,000–8,000

Adam Elsheimer was a German painter who was active in Italy, specialising in small paintings on copper, populated with monumental figures in meticulously-rendered landscapes. It is difficult to imagine that this painting could have been created without Elsheimer’s far-reaching influence. The artist has also used gold on the copper plate to create an aura around Christ’s head.

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Jan Josef Horemans the Younger, An elegant interior with figures having a tea party
Estimate £5,000–7,000

Horemans was the youngest of a Flemish family of painters working in Antwerp. He specialised in subjects such as this interior scene, combining the traditions of 17th century genre painting with the 18th century conversation piece, to produce elegant, animated scenes.

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Bartholomeus Breenbergh, Roman ruins with turbaned figures
Estimate £6,000–8,000

Breenbergh was another of the first generation of Dutch Italianate artists to work in Rome in the 1620s, where he produced paintings inspired by the light and poetry of his southern surroundings. This panel, in which he has also included figures wearing oriental dress, is a rare upright composition within Breenbergh’s œuvre.

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